|
The government on Wednesday announced emergency aid worth 500
million euros for farmers to try to avoid the kind of mass
protests causing disruption in France and Brussels, but a small
group of farmers, feeling under-represented in public discussion
on the issue, contacted each other on social media and decided
to take action.
Starting at dawn hundreds of farmers with tractors and other
vehicles made their way slowly to the four main crossing points
to neighbouring Spain.
Road police GNR said that two Portuguese highways had been cut
in both directions close to the borders with Spain, in Vilar
Formoso in the north and Caia in the south, as well as a smaller
national motorway in the region of Alentejo.
A GNR spokesperson said the protests were peaceful and required
"no use of force" despite the blockages.
"Farmers have been very badly treated in the last few years in
Portugal," said Jose Martins, a farmer protesting in Caia,
citing cuts in subsidies. "I don’t think this is the way to deal
with people, farmers are a very strong force in this country."
Farmers have been complaining that the government was reducing
aid to organic and mixed farming.
"Our movement is civic and non-partisan, and our aim is to draw
attention to the sector's problems, not to blockade the
country," said Ricardo Estrela, who led the protests in Vilar
Formoso.
"The aid package announced yesterday was an unsuccessful attempt
to demobilise us," he said.
Still, the country's largest farmers' confederation CAP decided
not to take part in any protests.
In France, where farmers have been protesting for weeks, the
government has dropped plans to gradually reduce subsidies on
agricultural diesel and promised more aid.
The protests have spread to Spain, Italy and Belgium, where
farmers threw eggs and stones at the European Parliament.
(Reporting by Patrícia Vicente Rua; Miguel Pereira, Pedro Nunes;
Editing by Andrei Khalip, William Maclean)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
